Here’s what astronomers know so far about the 3rd interstellar visitor ever found

On July 1, the asteroid terrestrial effect was first found to be asteroid. As the calculations for the orbit progressed, only the third star object was detected from outside our solar system.

Since its discovery, astronomers have been trying to gather as much information about the newest inter -stars interloper called Crazy 3i/Atlas. Known as a coma, he was challenging because of the dusty gas cloud hiding the seed, but so far they received some interesting data.

Here we know and what questions continue.

Asteroid, a comet or… spaceship?

One of the first things discovered about 3i/Atlas was that there was something beyond our own solar system that was thrown from another star system when creating planets.

“We know that there is definitely interstellar, and really, really travels quickly and actually moves faster than the solar system escape speed,” He said. “So basically, the gravity of the sun cannot hold it behind.”

Jewitt also said it came from the solar system and was the fastest traveling at about 60 kilometers per second.

This also means that passing through our solar system can be the oldest thing.

Another thing that astronomers discovered early was that it was a comet rather than an asteroid.

Asteroids are mainly rock bodies, comets consist of frozen gas, rock and dust. After approaching the sun, the sun radiation heats frozen gases that produce a coma around the nucleus with the main body. The coma creates the blur around the core you see in the photos. It also forms a tail associated with comets most.

And there were some speculation about whether or not Can be alien technology“This is not a spaceship, Jew Jewitt said.

James Wray, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology Institute, World and Atmospheric Sciences, “He’s doing things that we expect to make comets. He produces the types of gas we see that comets produce. He said.

“I can say that short summary often looks like a comet. But in detail, there are some interesting differences from the solar system comet.”

A little gassy

Wray, one of these interesting differences, said the path of the light containing the electrical and magnetic field is very different from that it was observed with other comets.

Instead of going in different directions, the light appears in one direction.

“Probably what we see… The nucleus is exploding, for some reason, and now floating grains, compared to the particles caused by the nuclei of the nucleus of the solar system -comet, the unusual dimension or shape, distribution or composition or all these things.” He said.

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Another interesting observation recorded by both Jewitt and Wray is the composition.

Both James Webb space telescope and another space telescope found that there was plenty of carbon dioxide compared to those seen in the stars of the solar system.

“We’re not sure whether we’re unusual for interstellar objects, because that’s the first thing we can measure.” He said.

However, it also contains carbon monoxide and most typical water ice.

As for its size, it was believed that it could be decaded in decades, but now it is believed that the seed is not more than 2.8 meters because there is more observations.

But he wants to learn more about his shape, but unfortunately, because of his dusty coma, he’s been hidden from telescopes so far.

How many inter -star visitors can we see?

The first stars were the visitors of the Stars in 2017 1i/Oumuamua. Canadian Robert Weryk Haleakalā Observatory, using the Pan-Starrs telescope in Hawaii.

Second – Tailed Star 2i/Borisov – Only Arrived Two years later in 2019.

(Cet stars are determined by a number and the letter “I” to indicate which number is the number of interstellar objects.)

It lasted six years for the next International Visitors. However, Jewitt said that the latest calculations show that the solar system can have more than more visitors. A share More.

“The best estimate of intensity is one of every 10 cubic astronomical field units … Au is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

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He said: “It takes about 10 years to pass the solar system from one side to another. This means that 1000 outputs are made per year and 1000 outputs per year.”

However, he added that the calculation could still be closed with 10 factors.

What is exciting and that can put this estimated test is the recent addition of Vera C. Rubin telescope in Chile. It scans the entire sky every few days and can lead to the discovery of more interlopers. This will help to identify them before they can be examined for longer.

As for 3/Atlas, the sun will disappear in the coming weeks and will reappear at night in December. Jewitt said astronomers should have enough time to examine it because he left the solar system.

I mean, if he survives around the sun from his orbit.

Fortunately, it will not approach the sun too much compared to other comet stars, “But you never know, Wray Wray said.

“If he survives [its orbit around the sun]At that time, in December time, we should really get the best data when it is closest to the world and away from the sun in the sky. “

Wray, 3I/Atlas will disappear for world observations for a while, while he is most excited by something else.

“One of the Mars cameras that I have been using for more than 20 years since the start of the graduate school will get a better solution than Hubble next month,” he said.

Mars, the discovery orbit, 3i/Atlas on October 3 when Mars flights to Mars will receive a resolution about three times thinner than Hubble, he said.